Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez raised a new national flag with changes that he said pay tribute to independence hero Simon Bolivar but that critics called frivolous and wasteful.
The flag debuted on Sunday features a white horse galloping left instead of right, an additional star, a bow and arrow representing Venezuela's indigenous people and a machete to represent the labor workers, among other changes.
Thousands of the president's supporters and soldiers marched in a parade dedicated to the new flag as army helicopters and F-16 warplanes swooped overhead.
PHOTO: AP
Floats, dancers and troops paraded past Chavez, while his opponents held a smaller, boisterous march to protest the new flag.
Chavez hoisted the flag, applauded and smiled as soldiers stood at attention during a ceremony on the 200th anniversary of Venezuela's tricolor flag.
Critics have slammed the changes a waste of money.
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